Genesis 18

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:4

(4) Wash your feet.—This is the first necessity of Oriental hospitality (Judges 19:21), not merely because the feet, protected only by sandals, are soiled by the dirt of the roads, but because it cools the whole body, and allays the feverishness caused by the heat of travelling. Thus refreshed they are “to rest,” Heb., to lay themselves down, in the shade. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:5

(5) Comfort ye your hearts.—Heb., strengthen ye, the original meaning of comfort, a word formed from the Latin fortis = strong, brave. The heart in Hebrew is the sum total of all the powers, mental and bodily, of the whole man.After that ye shall pass on.—Coming at noon, the travellers after rest and refreshment would continue their journey. It is quite plain that Abraham still regarded them as passing wayfarers.Therefore . . . —Abraham thus suggests that his tent was pitched near to the route... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:6

(6) Three measures.—Heb. three seahs, the seah being a little more than a peck. It is still usual on the arrival of a stranger to make this hasty preparation for his entertainment, the ordinary meal even of a wealthy sheik consisting of flour and some camels’ milk boiled together. Cakes such as those here described, baked amid the embers on the hot hearth-stone, are considered a delicacy (1 Kings 19:6). Flesh is seldom eaten; but if a traveller arrives, sweet milk and rice are added to the... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:8

(8) Butter.—Heb. curds, or curdled milk. Neither the Hebrews, Greeks, nor Romans knew how to make butter, and the word itself signifies cheese made of cows’ milk. This is less prized in the East than that made from the milk of sheep, or of goats, while camels’ milk is regarded by the Arabs as best for drinking. In a hot climate milk is more refreshing when slightly sour; but Abraham brought both fresh milk (probably from the camels) and sour milk (from the sheep), and this with the cakes and... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:9

(9) They said.—But in Genesis 18:10 “he said,” and in Genesis 18:13; Genesis 18:17; Genesis 18:20, &c, “the Lord (Jehovah) said.” The messenger speaks as one with Jehovah, or as being His representative.Where is Sarah thy wife?—This question is contrary to Oriental manners, as the women may be referred to only in the most indirect manner. But during the meal Abraham, as he talked with the strangers, had probably begun to recognise in them something more than human. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:10

(10) According to the time of life.—Heb., according to the living time. It is evident from Genesis 18:14, and 2 Kings 4:16-17, that these words denote some fixed period, but the exact rendering is in dispute. “When the season revives” = next spring, is entirely remote from Oriental thought, and the rendering of Zunz “at the living time” is poetical, but meaningless. The true rendering is probably “a year hence,” as when the year is over it dies, and a new year lives in its place. Jewish... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:12

(12) Sarah laughed.—See Note on Genesis 17:17. The laughter of both husband and wife brings into prominence the inconceivable character of the fact. Sarah’s conduct has been very unjustly condemned. Though Abraham may have begun to guess that his visitors were more than men, she probably had no such suspicions. Sitting inside the tent, and catching their words only occasionally, listening, perhaps, now only because she heard her own name mentioned, when she hears them talk of her having a child... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:14

(14) Is anything too hard for the Lord?—Heb., Is anything too wonderful for Jehovah? At last it is made evident that the travellers are messengers from God; but until this declaration, there could have been, at most, only a dim feeling that the visitation was more than human. Though the angel does not claim for himself divinity, yet the narrator prefixes to his words, And Jehovah said. In some ineffable way there was an identity between Jehovah and the angel. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:15

(15) Sarah denied.—With strange inconsistency Sarah knows that the speaker is Divine, and that He perceived the thoughts that passed “within herself” in the retirement of the tent, and yet denies; but it was the inconsistency of fright. Struck with terror at the thought that she had ridiculed the promise of Jehovah, she offers no excuse, but takes refuge, as frightened people are apt to do, in falsehood. Gently reproved, the result was the building-up of her faith, just as Mary’s doubt was... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:16

(16) The men . . . looked toward Sodom.—This visitation of God combined mercy and love for Abraham, and through him for all mankind, with the punishment of men whose wickedness was so universal that there were none left among them to bear witness for God, and labour for a better state of things. There is a strange mingling of the human and the Divine in the narrative. Even after the fuller manifestation of themselves they are still called men, and Abraham continues to discharge the ordinary... read more

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:4

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:5

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:6

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:8

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:9

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:10

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:12

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:14

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:15

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 18:16

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